Watch or clock dial



April 23, 1935 H. F. GARDNER WATCH OR CLOCK DIAL "File d Sept. 11, 1955 I Sum/WW 5 [5 garaa'zez Patented Apr. 23, 1935 UNITED STATES 1,999,126 WATCH onoLooK Herbert Gardnen chica'goyllli I n Application September-11,1933, seminassaoor H 20mins. (01.585128) Many communities, during the summer months, adopt what is known as daylight sav ing'time which is one hour ahead of standard time. In these communities, however, railroads and many other institutions operate on standard time and much confusion and annoyance results from the existence of the two different time measurements. Many communities border ing on the communities which adopt daylight l0.- saving time remain on standard time and in the borderland, between two communities, the same disagreeable annoying results follow. It

is an object of my invention to provide a simple device whereby when daylight saving time is adopted the time measuring instruments may be set to indicate standard time simultaneously with the indication of"daylight savingfltime;

, This object is attained by. such a device as is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure lfis a front elevation of a dial embodying the present invention,

Figure 2 is a section of the same on the line 2-2 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a rear elevation, partly in section, on the line 33 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a detail, in front elevation, showing the dial adjusted to indicate standard time only.

' In carrying out the invention, there is provided a face plate I which is constructed with pear shaped or oval openings 2 arranged in an annular series adjacent the margin and immediately at the inner circumference of an annular series of minute graduations 3, said graduations being the usual minute graduations provided upon all clock or watch dials. The face plate I is constructed at its edge with lugs or tongues 4 which are bent rearwardly and are adapted to be bent downwardly at their ends in a plane parallel with the plane of the face plate to be secured to an annulus 5 which is disposed at the rear of the face plate and spaced therefrom.

The face plate will preferably be constructed of sheet metal and the annulus 5 will be a flat band of sheet metalso that the costv of the device will be kept to a low figure and the lugs 4 of'the face plate may be easily manipulated, but any other suitable preferred material may be employed. The lugs are secured to the annulus by brazing, solderingor otherwise so that when the parts are assembled they will remain in a fixed position, the lugs and annulus being se cured to the front of a clock mechanism in any convenient manner. Disposedbetween the face plate land the annulus ,5 is a, dial or disk 6. 5 from the edgeof which projectsza single tongue orlug l which constitutes ahandle for manipulating the dial as will presently appear. This tongue or lug 1 projectsradiallythrough the spacebetween two adjacent. lugs 4 of the face plate, which lugs serve as StODSZtO limit the movement of the handle for causing selected sets of numerals on the vdial to be displayed throughItheopeningsflz in the face plate, it being noted that the openingslz are located on radii of the face plate at the spots corresponding tothe spots. usually occupied by the numerals on an ordinary. clock or watch dial. -Adjacen't the margin of the dial 6 there is displayed'upon the face of the same, in any preferred manner, two series of numerals, each of which runs from i to I2, corresponding to the hour designations on the ordinary dial, with the numerals of the two series alternating, as will be understood uponreference to Figures 1 and 4. The two series of numerals are so disposed and the stop lugs 4 are so located that when the handle 1 rests against the upper lug as shown in Figure 4, the numeral I! will appear through the uppermost opening 2 and the remaining displayed numerals will run in consecutive order from 1 to 11 in the usual clockwise series, while when the handle is in the positionshown in Figure 1, resting against the lower lug, the numeral 1 of the alternate series of numerals will appear through the uppermost opening and the numeral 12 will appear through the opening at the left of said uppermost numeral, in. which location the numeral 11 ordinarily is seen. A third series of numerals, indicated at 8, is provided inwardly of the previously mentioned numerals and this third series of numerals has its members arranged in radial alinement with the numerals of the second alternate series so that when the numeral 1 appears in the upper opening 2; as shown in Figure 1, a smaller numeral 12' will appear immediately below said numeral 1. As

a result, when daylight saving time is to be shown, there will appear immediately below the figures representing daylightsaving time the I proper figures representing the corresponding standard time. The pear shaped or oval form of the openings 2 accentuates the relative sizes of the series of numerals so that the larger figure will appear at the wider end of the opening and 6 the smaller figure will appear at the smaller end of the opening but will be plainly readable therethrough.

The movable disk or dial will be provided with an arcuate slot or opening 9 to accommodate the second hand arbor where the timepiece is provided with a second hand. It will be readily understood that when it is desired to shift from standard time to daylight saving time or vice versa, the handle I is moved in the proper direction so that the larger numeral 1 or the larger numeral 12 will appear in the uppermost opening 2, accordingly, and when the larger numeral 12 appears in the uppermost opening there will be no numerals appearing at the lower ends of the openings. The annulus 5, to which lugs 4 are secured, forms a backing or guide for the movable dial or disk so that it will be mounted close to the face plate and permit the numerals to be easily read through the openings in the face plate while at the same time, the movement of the dial under an impulse imparted to the handle member will not be impeded. The lugs or tongues are also secured to the back plate ll, which may be a fixed part of the clock, so that the face plate will be held against movement and the openings therein will always be in the proper locations. The device is exceedingly simple and inexpensive and will be a great convenience to persons who happen to be in communities where daylight saving time prevails.

Having thus described the invention, I claim:

1. A dial mechanism for timepieces comprising a face plate provided with a plurality of openings spaced according to the hour spacing of a dial, a disk disposed at the rear of the face plate coaxial therewith and having a limited oscillatory movement and provided upon its outer face with two annular series of numerals arranged coaxially and at the same radial distance from the axis of the openings in the face plate to be displayed selectively through the openings, each series running from 1 to 12 with l of the first series between 2 and 3 of the second series and 1 of the second series between 11 and 12 of the first series, and a third series of smaller numerals running from 1 to 12 and arranged respectively adjacent and radially inward from the second series of numerals and indicating time with 12 of the third series at the base of 1 in the second series, the third series being hidden by the face plate when the first series is visible and visible through openings in the face plate when the second series registers with said openings whereby when daylight saving time is indicated through the openings in the face plate standard time will also be indicated through said openings.

2. A dial mechanism for timepieces comprising a face plate having time graduations thereon and provided with an annular series of openings immediately adjacent said graduations, tongues extending rearwardly from the periphery of said face plate, a disk disposed at the rear of the face plate concentric therewith and having two series of numerals arranged in alternation to be displayed selectively through the openings in the face plate, a handle projecting from the periphery of the disk through the space between two tongues on the face plate, said tongues constituting stops to limit the movement of the disk, an annulus disposed at the rear of the disk and secured to the tongues on the face plate whereby to maintain the disk close to the face plate, and a back plate at the rear of the annulus bearing against the tongues.

HERBERT F. GARDNER. [L.S.] 

